1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input device and method and a program, particularly to an input device and method and a program capable of improving the operational feeling in an input operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent start of terrestrial digital television broadcasting, an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) can be displayed on a television receiver. In the EPG, respective programs are arranged and displayed in a matrix. A user operates a remote controller to move a pointer to an arbitrary position and select a given program.
Generally, a remote controller supplied with a television receiver is capable of moving the pointer only in the vertical or horizontal directions. That is, the pointer is not directly moved from a given display position to an intended position located diagonally therefrom.
In view of this, a remote controller has been proposed which detects an operation performed by a user in an arbitrary direction in a three-dimensional free space and moves the pointer in the direction of the operation. According to this type of remote controller, however, the operation by the user and the actual movement of the pointer do not match in timing. As a result, the user has uncomfortable operational feeling in many cases.
Japanese Patent No. 3217945 proposes not a remote controller enabling the operation in an arbitrary direction in a three-dimensional free space, but the improvement of the operational feeling of a controller provided at the center of a keyboard of a personal computer to move the pointer in accordance with the operation of a pressure-sensitive device called an isometric joystick.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the invention of the above patent publication realizes a transfer function capable of providing the output as indicated by the broken line with respect to the input indicated by the solid line, to thereby solve the slow motion of the pointer at the start of the movement thereof, which is caused mainly by the dead zone of the above-described device (i.e., the dead zone in which low pressure is ignored), and the overshoot occurring when the movement is stopped.